Looking for some help please folks... I've only really ever used thumb shifter gears on an MTB, however I'll be after a new bike soon and have found a gravel bike that ticks all my boxes, however it comes with flared bars with bar end shifters. Does anyone have experiences of using this setup... pros/cons?? Cheers

No experience with them but I have found that I occasionally ram my knee into the end of my drop bar when tight cornering. Not frequently and may be because my bars are too narrow or something but it bloody hurts. Can't help but think that I would do it more frequently and probably eventually break the shifter if I had a bar end shifter.

I've got them on a couple of bikes. After an initial five minutes using them becomes second nature ... don't let them put you off.

There will be one time you straddle the top tube and the bars will swing round and jab you where you don't want jabbing....

With flared drops, I've not had any issues with knees striking bars. I've used bar end shifters on my Mtb and touring bikes for 20 + years- love them

Got them on my Kona Sutra. Absolutely no problems adapting to them, to such an extent that the other day when I was riding on the bar ends on the MTB I dropped my hand searching for the non existent bar end. Makes feathering the front derailleur a breeze and if you have problems with indexing on the rear derailleur (for whatever reason) it's easy to change to friction.

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated!

The bar end shifter on my Arkose is pretty much the slickest shifting bike I have!

rode a bike fitted with them for a 20 year period. loved them to bits, used to put them in friction mode, which I liked for shifting up the cassette a few cogs at a time.
running thumbies on my ogre, which too are great.

It all depends on the flare and the drop of the bar and the height of the stem. I have made the mistake in the past of buying a 'normal' width bar (in road bar terms) with a lot of flare, which left the bar ends set too wide/vulnerable to being knocked when riding with others/wing mirror etc. The effective width of the bar should be measured at the bar end-to-bar end (not at the top curve - as a road bar is).

Also check the drop against your normal flat bar height - you may need a higher angle stem to get the hand resting/gear change height to a satisfactory position to make gear changes fluent.

When you get the compromises right they're fantastic.

In a similar but different direction, I'm currently I'm playing about with a pair of Kelly Take-Offs - trying to find the perfect bar/flare/stem height.

Thanks again for all the comments. Here's a link to the bike I have in mind. I guess I'm just wary of the 'distance' between the brake levers and the gear shifters, as I've always had both right next to each other! I'll​ mainly be doing touring rather than anything technical.

https://www.rei.com/product/109339/co-o ... -bike-2017

Is Co-op the new REI house brand?

PaulB2 wrote:Is Co-op the new REI house brand?

I believe so